Montego Bay(Settlement)English Possibly from Spanish manteca meaning "fat, lard", allegedly because lard, leather and beef were exported there during the Spanish period. This is the name of a city in Jamaica.
Monterrei(Political Subdivision)Spanish, English From Galician monte "mountain" and rei "king". This was the modern name of a municipality in Galicia, historically called Monterrey.
Monterrey(Region)Spanish Borrowed from Galician Monterrei. This is the name of the largest city in northeastern Mexico. This is also the name of a city in California.
Montevideo(Settlement)English, Spanish All agree that "Monte" refers to the Cerro de Montevideo, the hill situated across the Bay of Montevideo, but there is disagreement about the etymological origin of the "video" part. This is name of Uruguay’s capital city.
Montreal(Settlement)English Name of a city in Canada, from French le mont Royal "mont royal". Jacques Cartier named it after the nearby mountain, but it is uncertain how royal became real... [more]
Monywa(Settlement)Burmese Means "Hmong village" from Burmese မုံ (mon) referring to the Hmong people and ရွာ (ywa) meaning "village". This is the name of a city in Myanmar.
Moorhead(Settlement)English Transferred use of the surname Moorhead. The city in Minnesota is named for William Galloway Moorhead, an official of the Northern Pacific Railway.
Moraga(Settlement)English Transferred use of the Spanish surname Moraga. The city in California was named for the rancher and local landowner Joaquín Moraga.
Mordovia(Political Subdivision)English From Russian Мордовия (Mordoviya) derived from the name of the Mordvin (or Mordva) people. The name is thought to be derived from the Iranian root mard meaning "man". This is the name of a republic of Russia.
Morioka(Settlement)Japanese Means "prosperous hill" in Japanese. The kanji that make up the name are 盛 (mori), meaning "prosper", and 岡 (oka), meaning "hill". This is the name of the capital city of Iwate Prefecture, Japan.
Mos Eisley(Settlement)Popular Culture Mos Eisley is a fictional town and large spaceport located on the planet Tatooine in the 'Star Wars' universe. The name is unexplained.
Mount Everest(Mountain)English This is a 8848 meter tall mountain on the border of Nepal and China, it’s the highest mountain on Earth above sea level. The mountain was named after the British surveyor Sir George Everest, when the surveyor general of India Andrew Waugh couldn’t find a commonly used local name for the mountain.
Mount Kilimanjaro(Mountain)African The name of a mountain in Africa. From the Swahili word Kilima meaning “mountain”, and from the Kichagga word Njaro meaning “whiteness”.
Mourne(Mountain)Irish Both the name of a mountain range and a river in Northern Ireland, meaning "misty fists" from Irish múig "smoke, gloom" and dorn "fist".
Mqinvartsveri(Mountain)Georgian Means "glacier peak" or "freezing cold peak" from Georgian მყინვარი (mq̇invari) meaning "glacier" and წვერი (c̣veri) meaning "tip, point, vertex, top". This is the Georgian name for Mount Kazbek.
Mtsho Sngon(Body of Water & Political Subdivision)Tibetan From Tibetan མཚོ (mtsho) meaning "lake, ocean" and སྔོན (sngon) meaning "blue". This is the Tibetan name for Qinghai Lake as well as the Chinese province of Qinghai.
Mukdahan(Political Subdivision)Thai Derived from Sanskrit मुक्ताहार (muktahara) meaning "garland of pearls", from मुक्ता (mukta) meaning "pearl" and हार (hara) meaning "garland, necklace"... [more]
Mullingar(Settlement)Irish From Irish An Muileann gCearr, meaning "the left-hand mill", describing a mill noted in the legend of St. Colmán mac Luacháin, the patron saint of Lynn, Westmeath.... [more]
Muncie(Settlement)English (American) A city in Indiana named for the term Euro-American settlers used for local Lenape people, who speak the Munsee language.
Muntinlupa(Settlement)Filipino The City of Muntinlupa was founded in 1601. It is one of the 16 cities making up the NCR of the Philippines. It has a land area of 39.75 km2 and has 504,509 people living in it as of the 2015 census.... [more]
Murano(Island)Italian A series of islands in the Venetian lagoon in Northern Italy, famous for its glassmaking. The toponym is derived from Latin name Amurius or Mur(r)ius.
Murmansk(Settlement)Russian Murmansk is a port city in north Russia. Founded in 1916 , being the last settlement founded is the Russian empire.... [more]
Murrieta(Settlement)English (American) Transferred use of the Spanish surname Murrieta. The city in California was named for its founder, the ranchero Juan Murrieta.
Muscat(Settlement)English, Danish, Dutch, Romanian, Tagalog From Arabic مسقط (Masqat) of disputed meaning, perhaps of Arabic or Old Persian origin. This is the name of the capital city of Oman.
Muttama(Political Subdivision, Settlement & Other)Mon, Burmese Mottama is a town in south central Myanmar, whose name derives from the Mon language term Mumaw (Mon: မုဟ်တၟံ), which means "rocky spur."
Myeik(Settlement)Burmese Derived from Shan မႃႉ (ma) meaning "horse" and an uncertain word possibly meaning "pillar" or "tail". This is the name of a city in Myanmar.
Myingyan(Settlement)Burmese From Burmese မြင်း (myin) meaning "horse" and ခြံ (gyan) meaning "farm". This is the name of a city in Myanmar.
Myitkyina(Settlement)Burmese Means "near the big river" from Burmese မြစ် (myit) meaning "river", ကြီး (kyi) meaning "big, large, great" and နား (na) meaning "near", referencing the city's location on the west bank of the Ayeyarwady River... [more]
Mykle(Body of Water)Norwegian Mykle is a lake in the municipality of Kongsberg in Viken county, Norway.
Mỹ Phương(Settlement)Vietnamese From Sino-Vietnamese 美 (mỹ) meaning "beautiful," and 芳 (phương) meaning "fragrant" or "virtuous." It is the name of a village and commune in northeast Vietnam.
Mỹ Tho(Settlement & River)Vietnamese Most likely means "land of white girls", derived from Khmer ស្រុក (srok) meaning "land, inhabited area" (this element was dropped at some point), មេ (me) meaning "girl" and ស (sa) meaning "white"... [more]
Naas(Settlement)Irish (Anglicized) From Irish An Nás, meaning "the place of assembly". This is a contraction of several names for Naas, each beginning with Nás.... [more]
Nagano(Political Subdivision & Settlement)Japanese From Japanese 長 (naga) meaning "long" and 野 (no) meaning "field, wilderness". This is the name of a city in Japan, as well as the prefecture in which the city is located.
Nagasaki(Political Subdivision & Settlement)Japanese From Japanese 長 (naga) meaning "long" and 崎 (saki) meaning "cape". This is the name of a city in Japan, as well as the prefecture in which the city is located.
Nagorno-Karabakh(Country & Region)English Means "mountainous Karabakh" from Russian нагорный (nagorny) meaning "mountainous, highland" combined with the name of the region of Karabakh... [more]
Nagoya(Settlement)Japanese Of uncertain meaning, possibly from Japanese 和やか (nagoyaka) meaning "peaceful". This is the name of a city in Japan.
Naha(Settlement)Japanese Possibly a corruption of naba, a Western Japanese and Ryukyuan word for "mushroom". This is the name of the capital city of Okinawa Prefecture, Japan.
Nahanni(River & Other)Chipewyan River and national park in Northwest Territories, Canada. From the Dene name for the area, 'Nahʔa Dehé', which means "river of the land of the Nahʔa people".
Nairn(Settlement)Scottish A town in Inverness-shire, Scotland. The town is so called due to its location on the river Nairn, the name of which is probably of pre-Celtic origin.
Najaf(Settlement)Arabic, English Means "elevated place not reached by water, hill, dike" in Arabic. This is the name of a city in Iraq, considered one of the holiest cities of Shia Islam. It is reportedly the burial place of Ali ibn Abi Talib... [more]
Nakano(Settlement)Japanese From Japanese 中 (naka) meaning "middle" and 野 (no) meaning "field, wilderness". This is the name of a special ward of Tokyo as well as a city in Nagano Prefecture.
Nakaumi(Body of Water)Japanese Lake Nakaumi is located in Matsue, Shimane Prefecture.
Nakhon Nayok(Political Subdivision & Settlement)Thai Means "city of exempted rice fields" from Thai นคร (nakhon) meaning "city", นา (na) meaning "rice field, paddy field" and ยก (yok) meaning "dismiss, exempt", so named because the rice fields in this region were exempted from taxes during the Ayutthaya period... [more]
Nakhon Ratchasima(Political Subdivision & Settlement)Thai Means "royal border city" from Thai นคร (nakhon) meaning "city" combined with ราช (ratcha) meaning "royal" and สีมา (sima) meaning "border, boundary", referring to the city's location within the Ayutthaya Kingdom... [more]
Nakhon Sawan(Political Subdivision & Settlement)Thai Means "city of heaven" from Thai นคร (nakhon) meaning "city" and สวรรค์ (sawan) meaning "heaven". This is the name of a province of, as well as a district and city in, Thailand.
Nakhon Si Thammarat(Political Subdivision & Settlement)Thai From Thai นคร (nakhon) meaning "city" combined with ศรี (si) meaning "glory, honour, splendour" and ธรรมราช (thammarat) meaning "righteous ruler". This is the name of a province of Thailand as well as said province's capital city.
Nam Định(Political Subdivision)Vietnamese From Sino-Vietnamese 南 (nam) meaning "south" and 定 (định) meaning "to set".
Nam Định(Political Subdivision & Settlement)Vietnamese From Sino-Vietnamese 南 (nam) meaning "south" and 定 (định) meaning "fix, appoint, set". This is the name of a province of, as well as a city in, Vietnam.
Namekagon(River)English (American) A tributary of the St Croix River. From Ojibwe namekaagong-ziibi meaning "river abundant with sturgeons".
Namsa(Country)Arabic Derived from Ottoman Turkish نمچه (nemçe) meaning "Austrian, German", ultimately from a Slavic word meaning "German". This is the Arabic name for Austria, usually written with the definite article: النمسا (al-Namsa).
Namyangju(Settlement)Korean Combination of 南 (남, nam, "south"), 楊 (양, yang, "willow") and 州 (주, ju, "province"), thus "southern willow province". This is the name of a city in South Korea.
Nangijala(Other)Literature Meaning unknown. Invented by Swedish author Astrid Lindgren for her novel "The Brothers Lionheart" (1973) where it is the main setting. In the book, Nangijala is the name of afterlife where our souls go after we die.
Nanjing(Settlement)Chinese Means "southern capital" from Chinese 南 (nán) meaning "south" and 京 (jīng) meaning "capital city". This is the name of a city in China.
Nanjizhou(Region)Chinese From Chinese 南极 (Nánjí) referring to the South Pole and 洲 (zhōu) meaning "continent, island". This is the Chinese name for Antarctica.
Nanortalik(Settlement)Greenlandic Means "the place with polar bears" in Greenlandic, ultimately derived from nanoq "polar bear". Nanortalik is the southernmost town in Greenland.
Nan'yō(Region)Japanese This is the shorter version of the name Nan'yō Guntō. It's an abbreviation. It in English means the "South Seas" and "Micronesia." It was used lots of times by Okinawans during the Japanese administration era... [more]
Nan'yō Guntō(Region)Japanese This is the Japanese name for "Micronesia" which Imperial Japan occupied. This region included Marshall Islands which was taken over in 1914, Téél Falúw Kka Efáng Iiól Marianas (Commonwealth of The Northern Mariana Islands) where the Japanese treated Carolinians worse than the Chamorros, Guam where Japanese-CHamoru families existed, and other areas in the region.
Nanyoku-tairiku(Region)Japanese From Japanese 南極 (nanyoku) referring to the South Pole and 大陸 (tairiku) meaning "continent". This is the Japanese name for Antarctica.